Arrrrgh! Slimosaur! by Alan MacDonald

Arrrrgh! Slimosaur! by Alan MacDonald
Buy Arrrrgh! Slimosaur! by Alan MacDonald at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Confident Readers
Reviewer: Keith Dudhnath
Summary: A light-hearted prehistoric romp as Iggy the Urk does battle with the mighty slimosaur. High on silliness and action, it's worth a look for a bit of light relief.
Buy? Maybe	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 160	Date: September 2010
Publisher: Bloomsbury
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1408803356
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Iggy the Urk wants to spend his days playing boulderball with his friends, and trying to get one over on his nemesis Snark. His dad takes him hunting - Iggy is desperate to bag a woolly mammoth or snaggle-toothed tiger. When they come across huge tracks and an even bigger poo, his dad worries, and Iggy's Grumma warns him about the scary slimosaur that's out there. Life for a caveboy isn't easy.

Arrrrgh! Slimosaur! is a good light-hearted romp, high on action and with silliness writ large. The pages fly by thanks to the punchy plot and crisp writing. Confident readers will happily plough through it, loving the prehistoric antics. The characters are very easy to identify with - they're just like modern kids transposed to a different era. It would be easy to fill it to the brim with cheesy Flintstones-esque references, but the story is given a good airing and allowed to speak for itself.

Mark Beech's pen and ink illustrations are peppered throughout, keeping the wackiness and energy up. They never dominate proceedings, but they are a nice addition to proceedings. I particularly enjoyed at his guide to the different types of hunted animal faeces - it's not rude for the sake of being rude, but it will elicit plenty of childish giggles.

It's not a must-read, but it is good, solid fare that ticks all the boxes it sets out to tick. It's pacy and exciting enough to click with reluctant readers, or to be a bit of light relief for those children who devour books at a scary rate. It's worth a look for dinosaur fans and non-dino fans alike.

My thanks to the publishers for sending it to Bookbag.

If dinosaurs are your thing, you'll laugh your head off at Dino Egg by Charlie James. For a slightly more slender volume, check out Attack of the Lizard King (Dinosaur Cove) by Rex Stone, or for a darker read try Z-Rex (Z Rex Trilogy) by Steve Cole. If non-fiction is your thing, then you'll love Dinosaurs (Henry's House) by Philip Ardagh and Mike Gordon.

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